His Winter Goddess
by Black Winged Detective
Summary: When another teenage genius joins the crew, Pavel did not expect to see the girl he had fallen for at the Academy. Now the crew has to put up with yet another young antisocial genius Ensign called Stella Darkar. OC/P. Chekov. Set after Into Darkness.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: I do not own Star Trek. But I do own the story and Stella.**

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**New Job**

By protocol Bones had to do medical evaluations of the 15 newcomers. When he came to the last newcomer he found himself stood in front of a girl that had only just turned 18 in the past month. "Name, exact age and country of birth origin?"

"Stella Darkar, 18 years and 25 days. My country of origin is England, sir." The girl answered, looking up to show her grey stone eyes. Her black hair was tied back in a greek styled bun.

"Got any allergies or phobias we need to know about?" He inquired.

"Not that I know of, sir." Stella looked around the room, noticing everything from the way Bones had set up his equipment to the ketchup stain on his shirt collar.

"I just need to check your heart rate and I'll need a blood sample then you can go to whatever station your at." Bones said calmly trying not to show that he was fed up with StarFleet sending smart arsed teens like Pavel Andreievic Chekov to the Enterprise. Though Stella had noticed that he seemed a little irritated when she walk into the room.

Her rate was normal as it was hoped. Bones managed to take her blood with ease unlike the many others he had taken blood from, most of them squealed and some had even fainted.

"Finished." He pulled off his latex gloves and threw them into the yellow hazard bag which was to be incinerated soon after.

"Good." Stella answered plainly, pulling back down her shirt sleeve.

"Do you need directions to your quarters?" Bones asked, as he watched the girl hop off the patient bed onto the ground without making a sound.

Stella shook her head as a 'no' and grabbed her bag off the floor before leaving out of the door into the quiet corridor. She kept her heard down with her earphones in and her hood over her head as she walked to her living quarters. She was glad to find out that she wasn't sharing but that was probably because she was an extremely lite sleeper and she was also very antisocial.

Once at her sleeping quarters she discarded her casual attire for her work clothes which was black jeans and a blue longsleeved shirt with black pumps.

To her dismay her job meant she was working in the Brig that meant lots of people and hell of a lot of noise.

She walked into the Brig and a silence filled the room as people turned their heads to see who had entered the room. She felt their burning eyes. Then she realised she had not been told where her seat was.

'Thats thirty odd eyes looking at you, so don't screw up or say anything stupid' She thought to her self, pulling nervously at her shirtsleeves and looking at the ground, avoiding eye contact.

The Captain got up from his chair and put his hand out to Stella to which she did not shake out of her antisocial habits. "You must be Ensign Darkar." Upon realising the girl in front of him was not comfortable with new people he retracted his hand back behind his back.

"Yes, Captain." She said quickly. "I..I'm not...sure where... I sit...Captain." She spoke this as quietly as she could but she still caught the judgmental sniggers in the room from fellow Workers.

The Captain tried his best at hiding his own laughter then answered with; "I have heard you are already aquatinted with Ensign Chekov, so you may sit next to him, there's a free seat on his right."

Stella eye's hit the floor, begging it to break under her feet and drag her into space. Sure she had known Pavel Adreievich Chekov at the academy from being in the same classes as him and for standing up for him when some older guys decided it would be fun to beat up the youngest male Candidate they could see, but the way the Captain had said it made it sound like they had been in or were in, some sort of relationship. Which they weren't.

She read the people in the room and she saw both arrogance and kindness. But one personality shone out of them all and it was loyalty. She quickly made it to her seat that the Captain had given her and sat down.

Whilst Stella looked out of the stary black window into space, Pavel coughed to gain her attention. Stella looked up at the boy in his yellow shirt. "What?" She asked in whisper.

"Where have you been in the last year?" He asked quietly as he moved around an equation till it was correct and safe to use.

"Bloody Ground Control back in London. It's so boring down there, never again shall I volunteer for checking incoming scientific infomation, even if the pay is good." Stella answered once again in a whisper.

Pavel tried to hide his amusement at the only person in the universe he could say was a friend of his. The rest of the people were either acquaintances, coworkers, family or his bosses. "Good to hear you enjoyed it then"

Stella smirked then logged onto the system, using her password which was 'Tea'.

Little did she know that Pavel's password was 'English' with her IQ afterwards. At the Academy he had had a crush on her and now that flame for her in his heart had reignited upon the sight of her again.

Moments later Spock appeared behind the two teens carrying a test papers he had made himself. "I have been told by the Academy that your a very talented scientist. I would like you to do this test to see which tasks I am able give you to link to your ability. No calculators allowed. You have two hours on my count." He placed the test sheet in front of Stella.

"Yes, Commander Spock." She took the paper from her Vulcan Commanding Officer and found that they were two papers.

"Ensign Chekov, I'd like to test you too for future references. No talking and no copy... As a matter of fact Ensign Darkar take your test in the Medical Bay, I'm sure Dr McCoy will tell me if you try to cheat."

"Yes, Commander Spock." She stood up and put her chair in then left, trying to hold in her uttering till she got into the corridor.

'A test? I need a test to show that I can do science? I got highest in most of my classes and second highest in the rest and he thinks I need a bloody test to show that I am suitable for certain tasks.' She thought to herself as she came into the medical bay.

Before Bones could ask. She almost threw her test paper down in a desk. He nodded and went back to his own work of reading people's medical files including Stella's.

By the time 45 minutes had passed Stella was already rereading her test, when she was satified with her answers she leaned back in her chair and looked at the cieling.

Ten minutes later on the Brig, Pavel had also finished his test and sat back, spinning his pen round his fingers. "Easy as 3.14159..." He joked to himself before his paper was snatched up by Spock who glared at the boy and looked at a monitor showing the medical office where Stella was sat with her eyes shut and her feet on the table in front of her.

"When did she stop working?" Spock asked the woman at the table.

"10 minutes before Ensign Chekov did" The woman answered.

Spock shifted where he stood, slightly annoyed that the two teens had rushed the Exam. But they hadn't rushed, it was just both of their minds were worked differently to other's.

Two days later, Spock came back onto the Brig baring the two teen's results which Spock was rather shocked by. The test was not meant to get successful results it was meant to show their weaknesses not their strengths.

"Ensign Chekov, you got 97 out of one hundred. Ensign Darkar you got 96 because you drew in your paper so I deducted a point. Well done the both of you. I can now see why you are the youngest here" The Vulcan said to them before walking back to his seat.

"What did you draw in the test?" Pavel asked when his superior had taken his seat and got back into his work.

"An animation of a fishermen pulling out a shark on his rod and then getting eaten by the shark." She said with a slight smirk as she finished off her report on the planet they were soon to explore in the next few weeks. "And send." She clicked her automail button and sat back as the file was sent to every member of staff on the a USS Enterprise.

A week later, the 2nd Lunch break was called on the Brig, meaning the people who had not already been on their break could go on theirs for the next hour. Stella got up and headed straight to the lifts so she could go to her quarters. On every single break so far, she had always gone back to her quarters and had her lunch in there listening to music.

She didn't like sitting the cafeteria, where people glared at her because in their minds she was too young. In there she felt like an outcast, just like she had in any other place of education. Even with people her own age she felt out of place, because she different to them. But on the USS Enterprise away from the familiar faces of the Brig, she felt like a beggar, looked down upon and ignored. She also prefered not to be in social situations.

Whilst waiting for the next lift a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and found herself facing Pavel who's eyes were beaming with joy. "May I please join you in the lift?" He asked with a large smile.

"Err sure." Stella down looked at her feet and averted her thoughts from Pavel. He was the only person she could stand around and feel normal, feel safe even. However she also felt like she was no longer out of place. Even she had to admit the Russian Wizkid was attractive.

He was also the only person on the ship she couldn't read. She had tried the first time she had seen him in the Academy but it didn't not work, so after that she chose to avoid him until she came across him getting beaten up and she stepped in to help by alerting the attackers to cameras which were watching them. After that to seem at least a bit normal to others she sometimes talked to him about work, never did she dare to talk about her past and childhood.

She looked up slightly and tried to read him. As usual she got nothing but things that any person could presume. Whilst she tried to read him, Pavel also tried to read her by a short glance and also found nothing but things he already knew.

He smirked, she hadn't changed much since the first time he caught sight of her at the Academy. Her pale skin and wavy black hair made him think she was a child of Winter, blessed with it's cold pale beauty.

A lump formed in his throat, stopping him from letting his feelings be known. It was fear that held him back, the fear of loosing a friend and the fear of rejection.

Pavel had thought of asking someone like Sulu about how he should go about telling or even showing Stella of his affection for her. However he ignored that idea for he knew if Sulu found out he would surly spread the news of Pavel's emotions for Stella around the Brig faster than a exploding star.

No, he would wait. Wait for a sign from Stella that she too had feelings for him.

The lift finally came down with the Captain and Bones as it's passengers. They walked out at the two teens and walked away.

Once the doors had closed it was the Captain spoke up first with a slight grin. "I have a feeling that our little Russian has the hots for Miss Darkar." He said to his friends, looking back at the lift as it went up. He caught sight of Pavel having a quick glance at Stella with a smirk on his lips which soon turned back to it's serious self again when his glance ended.

"Awww. Are you upset that the Russian is not into you, Jim?" Bones joked at his friend's own expense. "I'm sure you'll find another. You know what they say; there plenty more men in the universe"

"I'll have you know I've bedded more woman than you have treated. Speaking of the opposite sex, a little bird told me you've been flirting with your new member of staff."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: Sorry about the Brig thing, in English and Scottish dialect it means Bridge. Hope you like the next chapter and please tell me what you think whether you won't to tell me of a mistake or a good part. Bye.**

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**The Fallout Of Friendship**

"Speak up a bit lass, my hearing isn't that good from spending so much time in the engine room!" Scotty shouted from amongst the crowd of people that had come to the Brig to be briefed about the planet they were next to explore.

Stella lost her place in the speech and refund her place. "So errr...as you can see from the diagram most of the planet's land is woodland and mountainous. The main atmospheric gases are hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen." She clicked on the keyboard, making a pie chart of the gases in the atmosphere of the planet come up. Her voice was still quiet and most could tell that Stella was not the type of person who liked performing anything even to one person. "The weather well, is unpredictable due to the..." she stopped and heard someone laughing at the back of room.

"Get on with it and sp... propppp...erly" The man mimicked her stutter that came out at points during her speech.

Her foot was shaking as it crossed across the other leg. She had stage fright. Not major but noticeable. She was glad she wasn't holding anything because she was sure by now she would have dropped it from her shaking.

'Don't loose it.' She thought to herself, trying to hide her whitening fists. She carried on, still stuttering a certain points. She could still hear the mumbling and murmuring in the background.

"Oi, can some one from communication translate this stuttering babble?" The same Redshirt shouted.

'Ok, they can listen to the computer speaking.' She opened up a program and quickly scanned her report from where she had been interrupted. A computerised voice then began speaking out the rest of it whilst Stella skipped through the slides. Her face had turned a shade redder from both anger and embarrassment. She could still hear the sniggers amongst the Redshirts when she finished.

"Done. Any questions?" She turned off the slide show and gathered up her notes. She looked around for any hands up, the Redshirt that had teased her earlier had his hand up, jumping up and down like child. "No? Good."

"Wait, I have a question!"

Stella sighed at the Redshirt's arrogance and his ego that was twice the size of Jupiter. "And what is this question?"

"Have you got a boyfriend? And if you don't, then do want to go for a drink later?"

"No to both questions." She answered sternly. Stella looked at the man with cold grey emotionless eyes. He was in his late twenties and by the looks of it he was an alcoholic and arrogant stuck up sod from security.

He was quiet surprised if not irritated by the girl's attitude and for a moment thought that she was maybe part Vulcan. Then again what did he care? He saw her only as a toy to use once then throw away after he got what he wanted. 'No, I could do better.' He thought to himself as he left the room.

When Stella left the Bridge, she was greeted by Pavel. She looked up from her Tablet and smiled polity, though her eyes showed that she was far from being the happy sarcastic teen that she usually was. "Are you ok? You looked pretty upset in there when that imbecile of a Redshirt kept shouting out." His soothing calm voice slightly made Stella happier.

She quickly hid away her sadness and closed the shutters to her mind and heart. "Yep, I'm fine." She told Pavel with a clear voice, however she was also telling herself this to stop any tears falling. She refused to cry. In her mind crying showed weakness and it was no advantage to anyone unless you were in physical pain of course and you needed to show it.

Pavel looked into her eyes. He could see it, the cracks in her seemingly content exterior. "No. No you're not, Stella. I can tell your lying to me."

Stella's smile fell flat and a single tear ran down her cheek, breaking the dam she had placed down so she did not cry in front of people. She quickly wipped it away. She began wondering why her feelings were so loose around him. "I'm fine, Pavel. Annoyed? Yes. Upset? No. I can easily deal with situations such as that one."

"Anyway, I thought your presentation was really good." Pavel said with a wide smile. "I doubt that man could even work out speed, time and distance."

Stella smirked, that was one of the easier equations in physics. She had met primary school children who could do that equation. "Thanks. So are you going on the expedition tomorrow?"

Pavel nodded. He wasn't sure if Stella was allowed to go so he just nodded as if it was not a big thing. "Good. That means I won't have to try and make conversation with strangers. I'm having to log data and so fourth." she joked, cheering herself up.

"Same here. This will be my first expedition on another planet and I'm guessing it will be yours too." His smile had got brighter and his speaking had got quicker like he could not contain his excitement of knowing that Stella would also be on the expedition.

"Well done genius. Which reminds me, I need to change my alarm." She joked, forgetting what had happened 10 minutes earlier. Using her tablet she changed her usual get up time and made another that was earlier and louder with annoying tone called the Crazy Frog from the time when humans thought they were alone in the universe. She slipped her tablet into her satchel.

"You know we have to be there by noon not early morning?" He questioned after he had seen the time she had changed it too.

"Yes and 600 hours is a perfectly reasonable time to set an alarm. It gives me time to sort stuff out then have a quick nap before we go."

Pavel thought it through. Stella's idea was better than his idea of lying in then getting sorted at the last moment. It seemed more logical. "I might steal you plan for myself actually." He said, taking her hand.

Her skin was like ice against his skin. It was ice that somehow did not burn his skin warm skin. It was a refreshing cold touch like cold water on a hot day. Pavel wasn't even sure why he had taken hold of it. Then he noticed that Stella hadn't pulled by her hand, like she would do if a person shook her hand longer than they should've. In fact she was holding his hand back.

They both looked down at their joined hands then at each other's faces, judging the opposite person's reaction. Neither of them knew what to say or do.

For a moment they were both still like people petrified in their dayly lives by the look of Medusa. A awkward silence hung about them and the ship went quiet.

Stella could feel Pavel's pulse through his hand. For a moment she thought that he was need of medical attention, then she noticed a nervous look on his face as he looked at their joined hands.

"You're not going to break my hand are you?" He asked nervously so his voice went higher at the end of the question.

"I can barely punch a person so I doubt that I could break your hand. Also..." She trailed of and kissed him on the cheek lightly. "I don't feel like punching you at this precise moment"

Pavel's cheeks turned light a shade of pink. He blinked twice, unsure whether he was awake or not. He couldn't believe it, but it had just happened. Stella had just kissed him on the cheek and it was like a snowflake touching his skin but not melting.

Stella could not even believe her own actions. A thought, a secretive feeling hidden in her mind had sprung out in a action and she finally knew why she was calmer with Pavel.

Pavel murmured something in Russian and leaned in, kissing her on her lips. He pulled back for air and translated his Russian to her in a quiet whisper with a smirk on his lips. "Now we're even."

Someone coughed down the hall, causing the two Ensigns to part quickly and stand against the wall like nothing had happened between them both, though they both knew that they had been seen.

"Don't mind me. I just need to get my Com Unit from the Bridge." It was Sulu. He walked quickly past and went through the doors and into the Bridge.

The two Ensigns were both blushing with embarrassment. Pavel was pulling at his shirt collar like the room had rised in temperature and Stella was pulling at her shirt sleeves. The moment the doors closed they both broke out laughing like the 18 year olds they were.

"I think we better keep a low profile tomorrow." Stella suggested with a joyful voice. They both knew somehow the news of them kissing would get round the ship quicker than a viral infection. There would be no way to keep their relationship a secrete now. Security probably had video footage that would be held against them if they denied it.

Pavel looked at Stella's watch and rolled his eyes. "We better get back to our rooms, we're before it's curfew." He said with a sigh. "I'll walk you back."

"I accept that offer, though I can walk on my own two feet."

They walked back. Trying to make conversation about almost anything. They were both new to this line of human relationships.

At the door of Stella's quarters they stood awkwardly. She still wasn't sure whether Pavel actually had feelings for her or he just did it in the spur of the moment. 'Maybe there's books on it.' She wondered. 'Just bloody ask him!' Her other half her mind screamed.

Almost the same thoughts were going round his head. 'You could ask Sulu, he'll know about this type of thing.' That settled his mind. Sulu would probably not laugh at him.

Stella quickly came out with her question. "What do you see this as?"

Pavel looked at her puzzled. "Err...a...relationship...that's if you want it to be." He stuttered with a heavier Russian accent than he usually had.

For a moment Stella had to rewind what he had just said in her head so she could decipher what he said. "Right, just checking." She quickly looked at her watch then down the coridor. "In four minutes the curfew warden is going to walk down that coridor. I'm guessing it'll take you three minutes to get into your room."

Pavel checked her mathmatics. She was right. He had to get into his room before he can get caught and get a disciplinary mark on his records. He nearly wanted to jump with joy but then again he didn't want her to rethink her decision. He was still blushing when he walked backwards. "I za...err...better... Night." He turned on his heel, digging his hand in his trouser pockets in search for his key card. He couldn't help but smile.

Stella quickly slid her card through the scanner and entered her room. Once the door was shut she started to laugh and smirk to herself. After getting a shower and getting into her night clothes, she crawled under the covers and drifted into her dreams.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: Hope you like the next bit. Please reveiw and so on.**

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**The Happening**

Outside of the Warping Bay, both Chekov and Stella stood nervously, trying to dismiss the odd looks they had got from the other crew members.

"What did you say the predicted climate was again?" Pavel inquired quietly as he adjusted the length of the straps on his backpack.

"A bit like Scotland in Winter. There's a chance of snow." Stella answered whilst getting fed up with him adjusting his backpack. "Ok turned around and face me."

Pavel did as he was told. Stella quickly looked if anyone was watching and then evened the two straps out and placed them into a comfortable length for Pavel. "Thank you." He said with a large grin. He looked at his watch. "35 minutes to go."

"33 minutes of boredom then." Stella corrected sitting down on the floor with her back pack at her side. Down here she felt like one of those homeless people sat in or near Tube Stations trying to make to some money.

Pavel followed and inconspicuously slid down the wall onto the wall so he did not attract too much unnecessary attention to himself. "Ok then let's break boredom." He announced quietly. "Questions then answers. Me first. Where did you grow up?"

"Earlier in life I grew up in York and past the age of 7 I grew up in London till I came to Star Fleet. So where did...wait already know that hacked your files in the first year. You grew up on the outskirts of Moscow." Stella mentioned the hacking bit quietly. He hadn't told him that she had gone through his files in the first year because she was bored. "So errr did you have a pet growing up?"

Pavel nodded. "Correct. I had a Tabby cat called Augustus, named after the Roman Emperor. Not my choice of name, it was a dad's idea. I just called him August. Do have any siblings?" He also knew the answer to this question from hacking her records, but he wasn't bound to tell her that any time soon.

"Nope, only child. My parents probably thought after I was born that the world does not need another me. What does you dad do then?" She knew that it was better to ask about his dad than his mum who had died during child birth.

"Lecturer for Classical History, hence the stupid name for my cat." Pavel answered, missing out that part that his dad had left him when he was six and didn't come back. For the rest of his life he was brought up by his grandparents on his mum's side. He hated his father for doing that.

"So did you have any pets?" Pavel asked knowing to skip firing back the question. He knew the whole reason why she had come to Star Fleet, it had been the choices of either going live in Scotland with distant relatives or come to Star Fleet. These choices had been given because her parents had died in a car crash which Stella got out of alive, with a few deep cuts and a broken wrist.

"A black Husky called Wolf. I wasn't an inventive kid."

They asked more questions,each of them skipping the topic of parents. That was until the Captain walked down the hall, making them rush to their feet. "Right, to all of you here who will be going on their first exploration of a planet. I am ordering you when we touch that ground I am no longer known as you Captain. You can either call me Kirk or Jim. The same goes for Lieutenant Spock. You either call him Spock or nothing. This is in case there are any other not so friendly intelligent life forms on the planet. Let's get going shall we."

The two Ensigns could both swear the Captain and Lieutenant Spock were looking at them both throughout the speech. The two 18 year olds found their places on the Warping Pads and held their breaths.

"Energise." The Captain said plainly.

Stella could feel her heart rate slow down and her body feel as light as air. In the matter of her blinking her eyes, she found her feet on softer ground and her eyes adjusting too a different light.

Tall, moss covered trees surrounded them, like towering giants. The scenery about them made it seem like it had been ripped straight out of pages of The Lord Of The Rings and made into reality. The ground was a brown and orange carpet of wet leaves. A cold brisk wind blew through the forest, binging the sweet smell of decaying leaves and over turned earth to the noses of the Exploration Crew.

Crows and Ravens with piercing crimson eyes sat in the branches of the trees looking down at the new arrivals. Some of these birds took flights and flew for the Mountains in the North and the rest stayed behind watching with Demonic Eyes.

Stella took out her scanner and scanned one of the Crows, so she could have a 3D hologram of the odd breed.

"Darkar, Chekov and Sulu with me, we'll take the Forest. The rest of you with Spock you'll be checking out those mountains" The Captain declared taking Pavel by the shoulder.

Stella finished her scanning and walked to her Captain and the men that he stood by. She went straight to Pavel's side and pointed out the birds to him. He frowned. "Well those are quite off putting." He whispered in her ear.

"Agreed." She whispered back.

"Right you two collect some data whilst me and Sulu have a look around for a spot to put the tents." The Captain ordered.

The two Ensigns nodded and began scanning and logging useful data to place into graphs, tables and reports when they were back on the ship.

A great grey cloud formed above their sector of the planet. Small snowflakes began to slowly tumble down from the cloud. One fell on Pavel's nose and melted quickly. As if on queue the snow began to fall quickly and in thick amounts. It settled on the ground like a white sheet. Cobwebs within the canopy froze and now looked like delacate doilies, swaying in the cold breeze.

He looked over at Stella who had barely noticed the fall of snow as she sat on a mat typing in results into her tablet, oblivious to the weather and the world about her. The snowflakes crowned her black hair that was sat in a braid that had been twisted into a bun. Pavel smiled to himself and went back to his own research.

Only when a snowflake hit the screen of her tablet did she noticed and look up from her work. She stood up, rolling the mat back up and putting it on her backpack with the straps and placing her tablet in the front pocket of the bag. She pulled her hood over her head then walked to Pavel who was stood still in the middle of the clearing doing nothing but looking the distance with a mind that was elsewhere.

"Pavel, what's the matter you look like you've seen a Ghost, not that they are possible of course but you know...it's a saying." Stella asked following his eyes into the white shadows.

He didn't even show any reaction to Stella's voice. He looked absent minded for the first time in the sight of Stella. Her hand slipped into his. "Pavel?" She questioned with worry.

His head turned and looked Stella. "I thought I heard something in the wind like shouting. It probably the wind playing tricks on my mind." He said with a weary voice, not sure whether he should pursue the odd voices in the wind.

"Come on, let's find the...Cap...Kirk and Sulu before we're lost in this snow. It'll get dark here fast, this planet's nights are longer than it's days."

After 15 minutes of what seemed like walking in circles they came across the campsite set up by the Captain and Sulu. It consisted of one large tent and two other smaller tents all mimicking their surroundings.

Stella was relieved to hear that she was having a tent to herself and the other one was to share between Pavel, Sulu and Chekov.

At sundown they all sat in the main tent having warm tomato soup from flasks that warmed their cold hands. "We won't be able to teleport back on the ship if this snow storm gets any worse. They won't be able to pin point us." Sulu explained.

"My report showed that most storms on this planet die out after about a day of existence so it should be fine by tommorrow morning. May I be excused?" She asked looking to her Captain who nodded. "Thank you sir."

Once she had left for tent the Captain spoke up. "God, if she was seven years older."

A flash of annoyance passed Pavel's face when he heard these words. Both Sulu and the Captain noticed this. "So Sulu was right. I thought there was something going on between you two." He paused still finding a hint of annoyance in Pavel's eyes. "Don't worry I wouldn't think of it. She's not a my type or age. Any way by the looks of it, kid, Ensign Darkar has one type and that's you, kid."

Pavel's face went red. He was glad to hear that the Captain would not be pursuing the girl he held dearly in his heart. But also embarrassed to know the Captain knew of his relationship with her.

"What was your pick-up line? Did you use your Russian one's or did you use the good old one's?" This time it was Sulu who shot him a question.

Pavel could feel his face getting warmer and warmer. Though he had no idea what was meant by a 'pick up line'. "I don't think I...used any. I need to go. Bye." He quickly left the tent and into the snow storm outside.

He shivered and blew warm air into his hands. He walked past Stella's tent and saw a bright light and the silhouette of someone with their knees wrapped up close to their chest. He tapped on the door of the tent. "Stell? You ok in there?" He asked over the sound of the wind.

There was movement in the tent and the door was unzipped. Stella stuck her head out and looked up at Pavel. "Yep. I'm just starting to watch The Happening. Its an thriller made in 2008. Where plants start making people commit suicide when a pheromone is placed into the air. One guy lies down in front of a lawnmower." She paused judging whether Pavel was slightly disturbed by the mental image her last sentence had placed in his head.

He smirked before bringing his hands to his mouth so he could blow warm air into them. "Wanna watch people die in ridiculous ways and count the scientific errors?" She asked.

Pavel looked back at the main tent. "Sure."

They sat watching the movie on Stella's tablet. She had found it on the shared documents back on the ship and had decided to put it on her Tablet.

At some point, tiredness overwhelmed them both and they dropped off.

Wondering what was going on when he found that Pavel was not at the tent, the Captain unzipped door to Stella's silent tent and looked in. There he found the two Ensigns fast asleep locked in pleasant innocent dreams. He turned off the light in the tent and threw the cover over both of them. The Captain did not wish to wake and find that his youngest crew members had frozen to death or caught hypothermia. He pulled the zip back up and went away to give into his own dreams.

He hid his sniggering until he saw Sulu. "Chekov's alive and present. The kid is fast asleep in Darkar's tent with her next him, also fast asleep." He exclaimed. "My guess is that they both dropped off because they hadn't even turned the light off."

Once everything was quiet and all were thought to be asleep. Dark shadows crept out from the forest, with glowing red eyes that could burn out any soul. They left no trail as they moved and made no sound upon each footfall. They had the shapes of humans with hunched shoulders and the movements of predatory animals.

Low growls and hisses came from their lips as they gathered round the tents.

Something stirred in the smaller tent. Inside this tent Stella sat up with rugged breaths, awoken by a old memory. Her body panicking as her eyes searched for a light source. Her heart rate raced and her hands trembled.

In her sleep her mind had flashed back to the car crash. It had been pitched black in that car at the bottom of that ditch. It had also been freezing and silent.

She remembered the blood, the warm crimson liquid that spilt from her body and her parent's bodies. Most of all she recalled the pain and the fear of not being found. It had been too late when the paramedics came for her parents but not too late to save Stella.

She looked down at Pavel who slept quietly on his stomach with his head to one side. "Not alone." She murmured. "No..." She didn't finish that sentence.

Green mist had began to come into the tent. After one breath of this powerful sedative, Stella collasped forwards unconscious and Pavel fell into a deeper sleep. But this time it was filled with horrible nightmares that played with his mind like it was a toy, ready to be broken by rough hands.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: Sorry it is such a small chapter and that is once again ends on cliff hanger. please tell me what u think. Oh and if u haven't watched the Hobbit films. Please do. They are great, even with the difference between the book and films.**

* * *

**Jaiven Hiker**

Pavel fell in and out of awareness. His mind muffled by bad dreams and bad memories. Then he felt the cold that was around him and the hard floor that was beneath him. He forced his eyes open to the real world and saw a room with a cold hard concrete floor and tiled walls. The light in the room flickered and buzzed.

He noticed a body lying in the corner of the room. Shivering and shaking. He knew who it was straight away. He recognised the person's identyity straight away.

He tried to stand and found his legs too weak to hold up his body weight. So instead of walking or running, he crawled over to Stella's side. Her lips were nearly purple in colour and her skin somehow managed to look paler than it usually did. Dark smudges were under her eyes.

"Stell?" He asked taking hold of her hand that was colder than the ice in the Arctic.

He could see that she had been crying which only made his anger at the Magister of this sick plan worse and more brutal. He hated the idea of her being upset and hurt, and he hated the people that had caused her hurt and pain even more.

"Stell? Come on, wake up. Whatever your seeing, it's not real. I'm real, your real. Your dreams aren't, their making you ill." Pavel said with a soft voice. He felt like a six year again, when he had to wake his dad up, so he could be taken to school. That year a seed of depression was planted by unseen hands and his dad could no longer cope with bringing up his son. He took the boy to his grandparents then left, never to return.

A few minutes later. Stella woke up and sat herself up so she was no longer sprawled out on the cold floor. Her head rested on Pavel's shoulder, her eyes delving into the darkness that flickered with the light. They were still both unable to stand on their own two feet. Stella had reassured Pavel that it was most likely the sleeping drugs was still strong in their muscles and blood.

They both felt helpless but they were both glad that they were with each other. The flickering light went dead. They were now stuck in darkness.

Pavel could almost sense that Stella was uncomfortable in the dark. She had snuggled closer to him more like child than a young woman. Her skin had turned warmer as her heart race to send blood round to all her body. He knew that she was scared of small dark places, terrified of them infact. He had heard of her having a panic attack in the first few weeks of StarFleet, when someone as a joke locked her in the science labs and turned off the lights. He couldn't blame her, he knew that he would be scared of tight dark places with he had been through what Stella had been through when she was 13.

"Nothings there, I swear. It's just the other side of the room, that's all" He said quietly, holding her close as if the darkness could steal her away and not bring her back.

"You know I thought I'd got over this, when I got asked if I had a phobia by Bones. It is an irrational fear yet I still fear it." She told him, with her eyes looking into the darkness like anything could jump out and attack them.

"At least your not having a panic attack. That's always a possative" He said, kissing her on her head.

"I probably would be if you weren't here." She answered looking up at where she thought his face was.

At the far end of the room the door swung open and a man walked with the light of the outside streaming in. The lights turned back on. The man looked down at the two 18 year olds and grinned with a sickly look on his face.

"Oh how cute." The man said with an emotionless voice.

His face was scared, from the corner of his left to the middle of his cheek, making a crescent shape. His eyes were were like black endless tombs. His black hair with hints of silver was cut short like a buisnessman. He wore an all black suit without a tie. An odd gold badge sat over his heart on his black jacket.

Pavel kept his arms protectively wrapped round Stella. He glared with hatred at the man who had entered. "You keep away from her." Pavel said with a voice of warning.

"Do you know who I am, little boy?"

It was Stella who answered. "Jaiven Hiker, you killed all your commanding officers in cold blood and for a year you tortured people in the sick bay at night leaving no marks. You then somehow killed the other crew members that would not follow orders or the crew members that were in your eyes weak. Your partner ship realised what had happened and shot your ship during warp. Throwing it out of Warp and making it crash."

Jaiven Hikerk clapped his hands together and smiled with a face of lies. "Clever girl. I know of your names and life stories as well. We're all going to play a Game now, and the Enterprise is going to watch...most of it."

Pavel read the man as quickly as he could. He was apathetic...a psychopathic even with a moral compass that pointed the wrong way. But most of all he was sadistic...he liked causing pain, he thought of it as watching his own personal favourite tv show without breaks and an ending.

"Your going to see the true side of StarFleet after this...just you see. Your just pawns of chess board...easily dispatched and moved around." He said with a sore voice, that was nearly as sour as a unripe Lemon. "I'll leave you to reflect about what I have just told you, shall I?" He left the room and the lights once more turned off.

After a minute he came back in again. This time he was followed by four shadow specters that had glowing deep red eyes and long sharp claws, who hissed and crowed. Behind these specters came seven broad men in black iniform with eyes that were tinted red. They walked like zombies under a trance.

Jaiven Hiker smiled again. "Do you mind if I borrow...take your girlfriend do you? I need you both separated, you see it's a key part of the game and I have been oh so bored. I have 20 years of entertainment to catch up on."

Pavel dragged himself to his feet, though they begged for him sit back down. His fists were clenched up at his sides. No way was he going to let them take her without her say so.

Stella clambered to her own feet, though she knew that she useless at fighting without the stability of her own two feet and that her punches were like being hit by pillows.

Still sarcastic nature hung on and came audible. "How about you let us all back on the ship and I'll give you all my box sets of film series and my books? Nope? Ok then, time to toss the rule book of your game into an industrial incinerator."

Jaiven Hiker nodded to his men and Spectres. The zombified Homo Sapiens made for Pavel and the Spectres made their attack on Stella. They both faught defensively.

Pavel had already received two punches to the face, busting his lip and cutting his cheek.

Whilst Stella tried to hold her ground against one of the spectre, another came behind and wrapped it's arms around her, pulling her towards the door. As it did so it hissed in her ear. Her feet tired to get some sort of grip on the ground and her hands desperately tried to rid the unwanted hands off her.

She yelled, screamed even. Nothing would do. She watched as Pavel was thrown against the wall. Falling to the ground with closed eyes.

She shrieked his name. Begging for him to be alive. Begging for Jaiven to stop his madness. She swore at them with every vulgar word she knew in any language.

One of the Zombified men bent down holding a knife. This time Stella shrieked louder. "Get away from him" She shouted with a high pitched voice. "Leave him alone! He's unconscious for a Christ sake!"

Jaiven Hiker scowled at the man. "We need him. Take her down the hall and wait for me."

They dragged her out, kicking, screaming, shouting and even crying. She didn't care anymore. So what if she looked the fool?

Pavel opened his eye's slightly, his bison was blurred vision and his head was throbbing. His hands were chained to the wall by rusty shackles . His dad's wedding ring that he had had in his pocket, was now crushed in the centre of the room.

Jaiven kicked the ring to Pavel. "I'm going crush her when I'm done with this Game and I'm going to let you all watch, unable to do anything." He waved a 50 year old pistol in Pavel's face then smacked the gun across the boy's face, causing a gash above his left eyebrow and dazing him in the process.

Jaiven Hiker then whispered in his ear. "If either of you manage to get out, I can assure you she won't be the shame girl you knew. I can promise you that."

"You evidently don't know Stella then." Pavel spat back elbowing Jaiven Hiker in the throat.

Jaiven stumbled back in shock. "All in good time, my boy."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes:Here's the next chapter. Please reveiw. Sorry for the cliff hanger. Dundundun...**

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**Escaping The Game**

For nearly three days now Pavel had been terrorised by Stella's screams of pain and her cries of hurt.

There were now cuts in his wrists from the rusty cuffs and his throat was dry. His left eye was surrounded by a bruise. His skin looked paler than ever. He was exhausted from the lack of sleep. Even when he slept the sound of Stella in pain was within his mind. He sometimes heard other cries that he could not put names too. He was now unsure whether it was day or night.

The food here came through a drip that fed into his veins on his arm. It made him weaker than he was before and more drowsy. Sometimes he was unsure whether he was awake or unconscious. It was hard for him to tell the difference anymore.

To keep himself occupied between the Stella's Banshee wails, he went through the list of every none element or went through every planet within a certain radius of Earth.

These long lists kept him from madness. He longed to see her again and have her safe. He did not wish to what they had done her.

At some point later on in the day, sleeping gas was pumped into the cell, making him drowsy and limp. He was dragged out of the cell and thrown into another larger cell further down the hall, that was about the size of a tennis court.

Sat cross legged in the corner with her head bowed was Stella. Scratched into the wall by her shoulder was a code, containing gaps at the end where the end of the number ran off randomly.

She remain oblivious and distant from Pavel's arrival. Her shirt had been ripped at the top of the sleeve. Her breaths were uneven.

The door slammed behind him.

Stella's head snapped up. She scrambled over to Pavel and helped him on to his feet. Pavel embraced her, but she tensed up and let out a small whimper. Pavel pulled away fearing it was something he had done, he kept his hands on her shoulders.

His eyed looked for signs of injury, when he found them it infuriated him. Her cheek was bruised, her arms had cuts and purple marks on them like someone had held onto to them too tight. Her hand reached up, her thumb carefully moved over the bruise under his eye. However he could feel that her hand was shaking.

"All the people here are dead, Pavel." She whispered his ear. "Those Shadow creatures control them and Jaiven Hiker controls the Creatures. Those things are like a disease with a conscious, latching on to people who have been in contact with their planet."

Pavel looked at her with a face of puzzlement. "How do you know that?"

"Psychopaths like to show off that's usually when they get caught by the police. The stupid idiot told me when I asked." She was smirking slightly, almost forgetting how her body hurt and what had happened in the recent days.

The door opened and the rest of the Expedition group entered with their hands of their heads. The door once again slammed shut. Both Pavel and Stella counted them. Five other Ensigns were missing. Kirk, Sulu and another Ensign had blood on their hands.

"The guy is a madman." Stella muttered, slipping her hand in Pavel's.

"And a bored madman is never good. Let's hope we are all playing our parts in this game correctly." Pavel muttered back.

Kirk kicked the door with his foot when it slammed, and he shouted through the visual shutter that had yet to be shut on the steel door.

"Frazen, Blacksmith, Richards, Yates and Thick are dead. That maniac shot them!" He shouted at the top of his voice pointing through the gap which was quickly shut.

The faces of the group all became glum. There was also a silence that followed with only to sound of a vent that filled the background noise.

"Who wrote Warp codes on the wall?" Spock inquired breaking the silence and running his hand over the indentations in the stone.

Stella rolled her eyes. "I did. But the prat nicked the knife before I could finish." She said calmly. "Also I don't know the last bit." She uttered the last bit, she hated being incorrect and especially when she had to admit it.

Kirk looked surprised. When he mentioned the word 'knife'. He looked to Spock who guessed that there was a high probability her father had taught her how to Pickpocket with out getting caught.

Mr Elijah Darkar had been a Intelligence Worker for the British Government, known for his skills in both office and field work. His daughter had found out his occupation when she took his laptop and had a look through it, reading classified files she had easily got into, she had been 10 years old at the time. Stella's mother had a far more normal job, which was a E & A Doctor.

Kirk looked around the room in deep thought. He whispered something to a red shirt who was an engineer, the red shirt nodded in reply.

"Right who's the skinniest here?" Kirk asked.

Everyone in the room looked at Stella who seemed to be in her own little mind for a moment. "It would seem Ensign Darkar is." Spock answered.

Stella came back to the real world and quickly wondered why people were looking at her body rather than her face. 'Why's everyone looking at me?' She wondered to herself.

"Darkar? Think you can get through there and find a way to get us out." He pointed to a loose tile in the ceiling. "Tompkins thinks it is an air duct is the same seize as the ones on the ship."

Stella gulped. She knew it would be dark and cramped up there. She pictured the seize and how light it would be and shuddered. "Errr ok."

Pavel felt a state of worry as he saw her climbing into the air vent. "She'll be fine." Sulu said in order to comfort his young friend.

Moments laters they heard clanging metallic sound in ceiling and finally they heard a thud outside of the door and the door opened up.

Stella stood with her hand in her pockets, prodding the foot of a man lying on the ground with the toe of her shoe. "I think I just...no wait he's breathing...ish." She mumbled as the group filed out with wide eyes at the teen who looked like she could barely do a press-up.

Pavel smiled to himself as he remembered her flooring a guy twice her size in Physical Training when they told her she didn't belong in StarFleet, by using his weight against him.

"I didn't freak out that much for once" She said with a grin before tossing a key card to her Captain with a light flat throw.

"That's great." Pavel with a comforting smile.

"Eyes open and follow me." Kirk declared. "I think I have an idea on the whereabouts of the Warping Bay. Hope fully they still work on this stupid ship."

The group walked closely to together. Pavel stayed close to Stella, in case any harm was aimed at her. He could see that she wasn't telling him something but he dismissed this as her wanting some privacy.

A siren went off and red lights flashed along the corridor. Above these sirens they heard Jaiven Hiker's cruel sadistic voice come through a speaker system. "Thinking of running are we, Captain Kirk? Well at your Crew's risk then."

The group began running, fearing what sort risks there was on the playing field. The doors at at the end of the coridor fell shut. Kirk swore and Spock observed the situation. Sulu nudged his young friend. "Bet you can open that in 10 seconds."

"Bet he could do it in less." Stella corrected remembering how Pavel managed to crack a lock down system before Stella and the rest of the class could even work out which version it was.

Pavel went past the Captain and a to the control panel. In five seconds he cracked the code and the doors opened.

They legged it to the Warp Bay. When they got there the group of nine StarFleet began trying to work out how to message their ship so they opened up their Teleportinb Shield.

Spock grabbed Stella by the shoulder as she stood trying to work out the Warp Codes of their location. "It can't be that..." She trailed off, looking up at her Vulcan superior.

"Did your father by any chance tell you of some codes used to send messages using that bypass StarFleet's firewalls"

The girl looked at her feet and nodded. Her dad had left her his work after in death, some of which contained computer codes and program's that we're illegal to use unless you have Governmental Permission. "I can probably do one up fro that, this ship has Warp Computer system version 1783.4. Everyone will need to be on the Pads."

Before Pavel could protest, Sulu pushed him onto the pads whilst Stella stood at a computer, breaking down programs, changing the settings for other program's and placing new coding in the Ship's computer hardware. "This should pin point you to the Enterprise."

"Comforting." Another Blue Shirt uttered.

The words 'Shield Succesfully Breached' came up on the computer screens all round the room. Stella grinned. "Warp in 5,4,3,2,1."

The ground disappeared in a wall of yellow light. "Thanks dad" She murmured, setting up the relay Warp that would allow her to follow them even though she wasn't on the pads.

Just as she felt as light as air she felt someone grab onto her neck and throw her against something solid.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's notes: Here's the next chapter. No cliff hangers this time. please reveiw and tell me what you think so far.**

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**Spoken Memories**

Pavel and the rest of the crew watched in horror as Stella appeared with Jaiven Hiker latched onto her. He rested the barrel of his pistol on her temple and his free pinned her to the wall. Under his tight grip she was shaking. Her heart was racing and her grey eyes looked straight past Jaiven Hiker to Pavel.

"Move one bit and you'll see her brains spilt on this lovely clean floor." He warned. Before whispering something in her ear that made her stiffen up with pure fear. "Now then. You are going to type these coordinates down and your going to let me take this pretty thing and myself go. If you do I won't kill her."

Pavel looked to his Captain pleeding for him to say no. He dreaded what Jaiven Hiker would do to her. "Please, sir." He begged quietly.

Stella glared at Jaiven then leaned forwards as if to kiss him. Just inches away she pulled back and kneed the man in the ribs. He fell back wards and shot.

But it was too late. She had already moved out of the way into the far corner of the room. His shot missed.

Security piled in and grabbed Jaiven Hiker throwing him in handcuffs. The Captain stated the reasons for him to be handcuffed and said his rights.

Stella was swearing to herself when Pavel got there. "Remind me to never annoy you." He joked. "Come on, those cuts need checking out."

"I'm fine."

Pavel folded his arms. "Walk in a straight line then or do a press up."

Stella sighed. "So long as you get checked out too."

They got sorted out at the Medical Bay. Pavel was glad to hear it only went as far as cuts and bruises on Stella and nothing more.

"The prat has got our reports and tablets." Stella said to Pavel as Bones took a blood sample from a vein in Stella's arm.

Pavel sighed. "You just nearly died and the first thing you think of is the fact we have lost our reports and tablets." He rolled down his sleeve and jumped down from the paitent bed. The cuts on his wrists from the rusty shackles had been bond up in bandages.

Bones pulled out out the needle and handed a cotton swob to Stella so she could put pressure on the place of insertion. "Keep the cuts clean and tell someone if either of you feel ill. Drink lots of fluids and eat nothing heavy for the next four hours." He said before he left to tend to Kirk and Spock.

The two teens parted ways in the corridor. After a long soothing shower, Stella got into her skinny black jeans and a dark blue vest. Stella quickly made a hot cup of tea that was pumped full of sugar and sat down in front of the television, watching the black screen.

She recalled every punch, every kick, ever cut and worst of all she recalled every time he forced his mouth onto her face. She shuddered at these memories. She wanted to tell Pavel but she feared that if she did he would rebuke her. She was ashamed that even with her fighting back, Jaiven Hiker's mouth had met hers. The man was a psychopath, but in a way she was thankful he didn't do anything more worse than that.

She finished her tea and opened the door. She peeped her head out, checking in the coast was clear on the pathway to Pavel's living quarters. She saw that the cameras would not see her. She did not want idea being out into other crew members minds of her and Pavel's relationship status.

She shut her door and walked quickly to Pavel's door. Stella had to tell him before the memory bore out her soul. Her hand hung at the door, debating whether she should tell him at his moment.

The door opened before she knocked. Pavel stuck his head round the edge of the door but kept his body round the door so he could button up his plaid shirt. "I...I...I have to tell you something. Can I come in?"

Pavel nodded and rushed to button up his shirt, missing a button in the middle of his chest. That he quickly noticed and did up.

He let Stella in, though he was quite ashamed that his living room was tip. Papers and open books were sprawled out on the coffee table. He quickly moved to clear a few.

She sat down on a chair across from Pavel who was on the sofa. Whilst she explained her lifted her head up at random points to see if Pavel was disappointed by her not managing to fight back and stop him.

His knuckles were white as he cliched his hands together. When she finished. She judged his reaction, looking for any shift in his facial muscles.

When she saw none she said his name quietly. "Pavel?" She paused. "I tried to stop him. I kicked the guy in the groin about seven times...Say something, please." She begged, nearly crying from the thought of loosing him.

"I'm glad you kicked that...in the groin. He deserved it and he deserves a whole lot worse." Pavel said calmly before getting up carrying a batch of paperwork to the kitchen desk top were he bumped them on his laptop.

Stella smiled as her worry went away on the breeze of the air con. She stood up and looked we his bookshelf that had both books written in Russian and English. She recognised authors and titles she knew as good pieces of literature.

In a picture frame she saw a younger version of Pavel grinning as an older boy in his twenties put him in a headlock and smiled with triumph. "Who's this your with?" She asked back to Pavel noticing small resemblances between Pavel and the older boy.

"Jacob, my second cousin. He's a Anthropologist." Pavel answered, coming up behind Stella and looking her shoulder at the picture. He grinned, he had forgotten Jacob and his newlywed had sent him that because he had missed their wedding. He must have unintentional put by all the sociology books he still needed to give back to Jacob.

"I don't deserve you." She muttered to herself, watching the movie Pavel had picked from his collection of DVDs.

Pavel smirked. "I know you don't." He said toying with a loose piece of her jet black hair as her head was on the armrest. "Neither of us do. We're both unsociable nerdy gits."

"I see your picking up on my bad language as I am with yours." She said with a grin.

She suddenly swore quietly in Russian and Pavel echoed it in an English translation.

* * *

Several weeks later, Pavel sat up in the bed and rubbed his eyes until they adjusted to the dark bedroom he knew was most certainly not his. He looked down at Stella who was sleeping peacefully next him, her face was turned away from him as her left cheek rested on the pillow. He noticed the teddy bear on the bedside table that seemed to glare at him as it looked down at the bed with its lifeless black eye's.

He turned it around to face the wall then took note of the time. 3:30 in the morning. He had ages before he truly had to get up.

He looked at his PAD. He had three messages from Warden 13 asking why he had not tagged into his room and threatening to had points to Pavel's record. He grunted, knowing it would be awkward to explain to the Warden of their level about the fact he had slept over at Stella's. Of course it made worse that Warden 13 kept looking at Stella as if she was a meal presented on a platter or sometimes dirt on his shoe. Warden 13 never really liked anyone, most of all he hated people who worked on the Bridge, especially if they were younger than him. Making Pavel a prime on his hate list.

Pavel debated whether to send a message back with an explanation, then again he guessed that he would get points on his record even if he did.

Stella stirred next to him and turned over to look at him. She smiled slightly and looked at his PAD. "Oh, sorry. Should I explain to him later?" She whispered forgetting that the walls of the ship was actually quite thick.

Pavel smiled with his bright youthful eyes. "No. I can do that." He answered putting down his PAD.

"If he makes anymore arrogant Russian jokes, I will personally punch him in the face" She said with a half smirk and a barely awake voice.

Pavel laughed. "That's only if he stood on his tiptoes." He almost blurted out a loud laugh but kept in quiet, scared that Warden 13 was walking past the room. It was true Warden 13 was quite short for his age and gender.

The next morning the two of them timed their exit from the coridor just in time to miss Warden 13. However this plan failed when Warden 13 ran late and spotted them walking down the coridor talking about which Ancient Greek hero was the best. Stella argued that is was Odysseus and Pavel argued that it was Jason.

"But Odyessues used his brain more than his strength." Stella argued.

Before Pavel could open his mouth and reply to Stella's point, Warden 13 came round the corner and glared at the two young Ensigns and stood in their path.

"Ensign Chekov, you did not sign into your room after leaving it at 6:00pm, yesterday. You also signed in to it today, so can I ask you where you were beyween those hours?"

Pavel gulped, pulling at the collar of his shirt. "I was with..." His explanation was cut of by Warden 13.

"The little whore stood next to you." Warden 13 said with glowering eyes aimed at the both of them.

"Thanks for the complement. Though I don't think I'm that short." Stella said, pulling Pavel away before something happened that was unnecessary. She could almost feel his blood boiling in his veins and arteries as she held onto his hand. She wasn't that bothered by the insult fired at her, she knew it was far from being true.

"That's four points on both of your records." Warden 13 with a snide voice that almost begged Stella to turn round and severely injure Warden 13. She ignored this sudden urge and carried on walking to the lift with almost dragging Pavel in tow.

Back on the Bridge, the two of them got into their tasks and tried to act casual, though could both feel eyes burning through their heads. Somehow most of the Bridge had found out about them recieving points on their files.

Out of speculation their Captain checked CCTV for their coridor that night. He smiled to himself when he saw that Pavel had not made an exit from Stella's room at any point that night. "Ensign Chekov? Ensign Darkar?"

The two Ensigns' heads turned in synchronisation and looked up at their Captain. "Yes, sir." Their two voices became one.

"Those points on your files. Any ideas what they are for?"

They both shrugged, avoiding direct eye contact with their Captain. Kirk smirked, thinking that something other than sleeping and dreaming had happened between the both of the young Ensigns. "Did you make a bit too much noise?" He asked quietly as everyone else got of with their work.

Stella looked at him blankly when she finally understood his rather crude remark. Pavel however remained oblivious, still angered by the fact that Warden 13 had called Stella a "whore" when she was clearly the total opposite.

"Ok maybe not then. Carry on your work then while I ask why Warden 13 seems to not particularly like you both" Kirk said plainly. He was tired of hearing of teasing and mock making on his ship by the hands of older Recruits to the ears of younger Recruits.

The two of them turned back to their work. Both of them went pale with embarrassment. They exchanged timid looks of 'oh great' to one another.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Notes: Sorgy for not updating, I had two versions of this chapter so I had to choose which to use. I hope u like this one. I know it's a bit short. Please tell me what u think.**

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**Reasons Why Not To Look In The Corner Of Your Eye**

Stella walked round the corner with Pavel and stopped. People were gathered round the outside of her quarters.

"Excuse me." She said as she pushed to the front of the group of people. When she got there a piece of her soul shattered into spires of frozen ice that stabbed her emtions.

She covered her mouth and gaged, trying to muffle and stop cries from becoming audiable. Her eye's were wide at as they scanned the atrocity someone had committed.

Her hand ripped down the printed off psychiatric report that had been done after the death of her parents' deaths. Animal's blood was on the walls, with the words 'RIP The Darkar Family and long live their whorish daughter.' Blood stained articles were on the walls about the crash were stuck onto to the wall.

The door to her room was open. But she dared not go in. From her she could see the insides of pillows thrown all about the floor. She could see a map knifed and hanging off the wall and she could see family pictures with faces scratched out.

Pavel hugged onto her. Whispering calming words in both Russian and English. However these words went unheard. The crew members around her whispered questions like "Why would they? How could they?" amongst themselves.

"What's go..." Sulu trailed off as he looked at the writing. He gulped. "Right, clear off unless you know who did this." He commanded.

Everyone left. Before Pavel and Sulu could try and calm Stella down. She had run into the one room in her quarters that had not been destroyed. She locked the door and finally lost it in a moment of pure anger.

She punched the mirror with a clenched fist and shouted at her own cracked, blood smeared reflection. She had to snap at times and this was one of those times when she could loose it even it was behind closed door and thick walls.

She took in breaths of air then ran her cut ridden knuckles under the cold water, swearing as she went. She could faintly hear Pavel's voice at the other side begging for her to come out.

Then she noticed something that made her skin feel like ice and heart like stone. The shower curtain was drawn, she never drew the ruddy thing. She saw it has a pointless invention with there was glass.

She swore loudly in her mind and went to the door, pretending she had never noticed it. The curtain rustled behind as it was pulled back.

But her hand never reached the door as the glint of a knife caught her eye.

She tried to reached for the doors. The person grabbed a clump of her hair and pulled her backwards, causing her to scream in pain like a Banshee upon a dying man's manor.

After hearing his girlfriend's scream, Pavel tried to push down the door with the help of Sulu but it wouldn't give.

"Tell your stupid boyfriend if he gets anyone, he'll find you surrounded by a lake of your own blood!" Warden 13 shouted into her ear whilst keeping a good tight hold onto her.

She tried to tug the hand away, but flinched when she saw his hand pointing a razor edged knife towards her windpipe. There was more banging at the door and shouting for Warden 13 to let Stella go.

"You see, I came prepared. Guns are easy to get out of someone's hand, but a knife, well that's harder." He whispered as Stella whimpered like a child under his tight grasp. Here Warden 13 had the under hand, Stella knew that. "Walk over to the bath." He ordered. Stella did as she was told, fearing for her own life. "Run a cold bath and make it deep." Once again she did as she was told.

She was trembling, now knelt on the ground as the bath filled up to the brim. Her reflection was drained, it beconed her in but she refused. "Now, pray. Pray to the Lord and purge yourself of your sins in his eyes."

"I'm not a..." She fell short. Warden 13 had put the knife in her hands and forced her hand to close round it. Blood dripped from her hand into the water, tainting it with blood. She swore with the most foul language she knew.

"You stain this knife with your son." Warden 13 whispered in her ear as he took it out.

Her hand was covered in blood and cuts. He kicked the knife under the door then slammed Stella's head against the side of the bathtub. Her body fell limp as she fell from reality. Warden 13 smirked to himself and placed her head under the ice cold water. A bloody hand print was on the side of the bathtub.

This had been his sick plan or so he thought.

An tag he had never noticed on his wrist, burst into life. His heart stopped and he dropped to the ground dead with blood shot eyes. He hadn't even noticed the suicide note in the back pocket of his trousers.

It had all been some sick game by a unseen player that stood in the shadows.

Minutes later the door suddenly fell of its hinges.

Pavel stood there as pale as chalk, looking at the over flowing bathtub. It took him a moment to react and the shock to wear away.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long. I've had mock tests and I keep getting new ideas for stories which delayed this one. So here's the next chapter. This has space pirates. Lol that sounds REALLLY childish.**

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**The Reason of Death**

Stella sat up. The bright lights and colours of the room seemed to glare at her eyes and everything seemed to be out of focus.

A heart rate monitor made its consecutive bleeps, showing her heart was at a steady rate.

Her head throbbed, but somehow at the same time she felt a little dazed, drugged even. Her memories from hours before was hazey and blurred.

Her right hand was bandaged up and sat in a sling. "Seven years bad luck, that is." A familiar voice announced from the bed next to hers. Pavel smiled when she looked at him, with a face that showed no pain. "How are you feeling?"

"I've felt better." She answered pulling herself up and moving her hair out of her eyes with her free hand. "When can I leave?"

Pavel shrugged. He explained what had happened, holding onto her good hand. From him finding her unconscious and face down in water to the moment she had woken up.

It wasn't long before Stella had manipulated her way into being released early. It hadn't been the first time she'd blagged her way out of a place she didn't like being. She'd done it after the car crash, she had hated that place. It had been full of people trying to act sorry for her, but she could see right through them as if they were all panes of glass.

"I swear if you scare me like that again, I'll keep you under lock and key in the fear of your being hurt." Pavel said after kissing her lightly on the lips.

Stella smiled. "Locks are easily broken, though its maybe not that easy when one of your hands in a sling." She said as the lift doors opened and they parted.

People were cleaning down the graffitied wall, Pavel swerved her from this, making sure his body blocked her eyes. "Pavel." She groaned, noticing his protectiveness that seemed to grown. "Enough with the over protective boyfriend."

Whilst sat on the sofa, Pavel's PAD went off. He grunted. "Are you ok if I leave for a bit, I'm needed on the Bridge?" He asked, with lack of enthusiasm.

"Sure. But, tell the Captain, I'm working tomorrow."

Pavel rolled his eyes. "No, you have to have rest."

Stella widened her eyes and blinked them, like a puppy trying to steal left overs from its owner. "Rest?"

However Pavel wasn't going to fall for it that easily. He got to his feet and pulled his yellow overshirt back on. "Yes, rest or your hand won't get better and I am sure Bones and the Captain agree."

Pavel was just about to leave the room when Stella shouted after him. "Pavel, can anyone else but me and you get in here?" She asked with sudden spark of paranoia in her mind.

"No. Just us you and me, I had Scotty reprogrammed while you were away with the fairies. If there's a problem just call up to the Bridge." He gave a quick wave goodbye and left.

"Ok, I'll get used to using my left hand. This is one of those days where I wish an anibidextrous." Stella mumbled, lying back on the sofa's armrest and starring at the ceiling as she opened and closed her good hand.

Two weeks later, Stella was out of the sling and back in her work. Six people around the ship had killed themselves within these 14 days. All of them with no sign on how they died. Only bodies and death notes were found. None had reasons to commit these desperate acts but all of them had happened behind closed doors and all of them had passed psychological tests carried out by professionals.

Morale was down within the crew. Each of the people had been from different sections of the ship, meaning almost everyone had been effected by these depressive deaths. The Captain was far from being in his cheery mood and so was the rest of Bridge.

Stella's hand was been scared by the brutal act inflicted upon her. She didn't mind that much, she knew that there had been a large chance that she could've drowned and that she was lucky to still be breathing.

However she had not dared to set foot into her quarters which had been disfigured by unwanted hands. Someone had died in there and she too had almost past into those shadowy lands within those walls. Good memories were stained over by blood and reckless anger. She now stayed with Pavel. The stuff that hadn't been destroyed was moved into his. She felt safer with him.

They had both got used to each other quirks that neither of them had noticed in each other before. Like how Pavel straightened certain things up if Stella knocked them into a different angle. Or like how Stella sometimes sat upside down in chairs when she was in deep thought and either alone or with Pavel.

Stella rolled her eyes at Pavel, as they heard yet another speech by Scotty about his little 'baby' which was actually the Enterprise.

"You know she's the only recorded ship to have seventeen engines and that she has the largest Jump range." Scotty explained to them as they stood in the Engine Bay area.

Spock had insisted that they should go get results from the Warp Drives. They hadn't expected to be being given a tour while they made their way to the Drives. They had been given ear protectors which hung about their necks. When they got down the next three coridors they had to put them on or be deafened by the loud noises of metal moving against metal.

Pavel already knew most this, but he felt that it would be rude to point it out to Scotty. The two teens nodded their heads and kept their constant pace down the long corridor.

Finally in the Warp Drive area, Stella went to the end of the room to collect the data for the left part of the drive and Pavel went to the opposite side. They both collected their data with the hawk-eyes of Scotty, watching their every move making sure they didn't damage his 'baby' in any way.

"It won't work!" Stella moaned over the sound of metal against metal. She tried again to put in the data, only for the numbers to turn up as negatives, rather than a positive.

Pavel finished his work quickly and came over to her. He looked over her shoulder at the equations and chuckled to himself. "You need that in brackets." He said loudly as he pointed to the digits on the screen.

"Oh." She said, surprised that she had made such a basic mistake. Then corrected her mistake. "It works now."

On their way back, Scotty went off to tell some engineers for not finishing off their work. This left the two youths to work their way back up to the Bridge. "Did you always want to work for StarFleet?" Pavel asked randomly.

Stella shrugged her shoulders. "Errr...I used to want to be a vet. I was nine I think and I had watched to much Animal Hospital. But when I got offered this, so I just went along, it wasn't like I enjoyed my current place of education when they asked. What about you?"

"Wikipedia's fault. One moment I was doing homework and the next minute Bang! I'm reading articles of Astrophysics all over the Internet." He answered, even making a hand gesture of an explosion. "I think was 10 at the time." Pavel answered still thinking if Stella would've been a successful vet or not.

Stella laughed at the thought of a smaller younger version of Pavel sat infront of a computer with hide eyes as he scanned reports by Stephen William Hawking.

They walked onto the Bridge. The Captain span in his chair to face them with Spock at his side, both held serious looks on their faces. Stella looked down at herself, seeing if there was anything wrong with what she was wearing. Nothing was wrong with it.

"Show me your ID Cards." Spock said holding out his hand with a blunt tone in his voice.

Both of the youths dug into their back pockets and flashes of worry passed their faces. Neither of them could find their IDs. They patted down other pockets with wide eyes.

"I had it...what the hell?" Stella muttered after checking her pockets and still finding nothing.

Their Captain smirked then brought out two ID cards. "I had you pickpocketed as a test. You both need to either be more aware or find new places to put your cards."

"Thank f..." Stella swore and took back her ID Card. Spock looked at her, he hadn't expected such a word to come out of a person who looked so innocent. "Sorry for swearing." She said looking at her feet and passed the printed of results to Spock.

Pavel grabbed his back quickly and clipped it onto his belt, scared at the Captain might get someone to pickpocket him again.

When they got back to their seats the Captain asked them yet another question about their recent journey. "Also did you spot anything odd about Scotty?"

The two them thought back and both answered at the same time. "He had green contacts in." Their voices became one.

"Good, at least we now you can spot details." The Captain sat back in his chair.

Sulu leaned in towards to pair. "Good to know I'm not the only one he's done that test on."

Later that night, the ship slept peacefully. The night crew walked about quietly doing their work as the day crew slept in their quarters.

The ship suddenly jolted sideways. This jolt throwed people who had been walking to the ground and people waked those who were sleeping in their beds.

Sirens rang out their cry of warning. Bright red lights span round and round, altering cry members who were hard of hearing or deaf.

The day crew rushed out of their beds and threw on their uniforms not caring about putting stuff away. It took an average of 4 minutes until every person was at their rightful stations.

On the Bridge, Stella pulled the safely strap over her body, locking herself into the chair. Her eyes nervously darted around the room. 'What is a Science Officer supposed to do in an attack? Catch up on work?' She thought to herself as she pulled her hair out of her eyes.

"Its going to be fine, Stell. The shots aren't getting past the Shields." Pavel said as he too strapped himself in.

Stella looked over at her boyfriend. He had bed head and his shirtsleeves were twisted from the sudden rush to get changed. "Let's hope it stays that way." She said up him quietly, before looking at the monitors which showed the enemy vessel.

The vessel was large but still smaller than the Enterprise and it's sister vessels. It was black with white markings on it. It's vessel code had been taken off and it was covered in an array of banned weaponary which was a war crime to distribute and own.

Uhura, the Leading Communications Officer quickly began setting up a communications link between the Enterprise and the enemy vessel. When was set up she called the over the Captain and Lieutenant Spock to clarify the link.

Someone from Medical Bay suddenly ran onto the Bridge with a reddened face and tablet in his hand. "Sir, all members of staff by the cells are dead. You need to see this. It's a recording from the last five minutes. Jaiven Hiler somehow managed teleported out and onto the opposing ship just before the deaths." He handed the tablet to the Captain, before saluting and running out back to his station.

Kirk watched the screen, he saw Jaiven Hiker suddenly teleport out of his cell and then all of the staff members around the area stop what they were doing before moving to face the camera in a line. Their eyes all became bloodshot then like someone had flicked a switch they dropped to the ground, dead. All had taken the Reapers hand even the crew member who had been asleep in his chair had been killed in some mysterious way.

There was a minute of silence on the Bridge all of them had heard the news.

The communications link was finally proved successful but the camera on the other end of the link had been tampered with so no image came up in the Enterprise's end. "Damn and I had thought that imbecile had finally done what you deserved, Miss Darkar. Oh well you can burn with the rest of your fellow the crew members." Jaiven Hiker's voice came through the speakers.

Stella pretended she had not heard him and looked at the desktop. She was not going to give this psychopath the pleasure of seeing her angry side.

Another voice took over from Jaiven Hiker. "Here's your only warning, for I am not a cruel man unlike your exprisoner here who you just heard speak. You can give up your lovely vessel and Universal Rights or die. What do you say Captain Kirk is there an agreement?"

"Hmmm, I am going to guess that you are sort of like pirates on you have space rather than the Seven Seas. If you wish to sell my ship off for scrap and my crew off as slaves you have another thing coming, it's called a lovely small cell with a guy who doesn't wash." Kirk said, almost grinning.

That had been a mistake and soon they found out how big a mistake it had been. Then again it was better than being sold off as Slaves where anything could happen in such a disgusting, horrific trade as that.


End file.
